Reproduction

This is the ubiquitous ‘bristlenose’ catfish in the aquarium hobby and is bred commerically on a large scale although it’s precise origin is unknown with some of the opinion that it may be a hybrid.

Several line-bred ornamental varieties exist, including piebald, albino, xanthic and long-finned forms of which long-finned fish are sometimes sold as ‘butterfly’ or ‘veiltail’ catfish.

It was commonly referred to as Ancistrus sp. ‘3’ between the late 1990s and 2008, and was later considered to be closely-related with A. cirrhosus (Valenciennes, 1836), an Argentinian species which was among the first members of the genus exported for aquaria in the early 1920s.

Genetic data suggests this not to be the case, and its identity thus remains a mystery.

It’s often misidentified with various names including Ancistrus dolichopterus, A. temminckii, A. hoplogenys and others having been applied to it.

Ancistrus is a diverse genus currently containing in excess of 60 valid species, distributed between Panama in Central America and the Río de la Plata drainage, Argentina.

Members are diagnosed from other loricariids by possessing well-developed interopercular spines and lacking plates and odontodes on the anterior margin of the snout, which is instead covered in fleshy tentacles.